National origin discrimination in Illinois occurs when an employee is treated different based on ethnicity or accent. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and employer may not make any employment decision based on national origin. 

Additionally, employers must take appropriate steps to prevent and correct unlawful harassment which is based on the national origin of an employee or the perceived national origin. For example, if an employee is from Spain but the other employee think this person is from Iran and harass the individual based on this false assumption, the employee being harassed would have a valid national origin claim based on the false assumption that he was from Iran.

An employee may not have English only rules for employees unless the job requires it or for safety reasons.  Also, unless an employees accent materially affects the employees job performance, an employer may not discipline the employee based on his accent.

Please contact Pete at 312-505-5038 if you believe you are a victim of discrimination